Upfront and Newfront Update: Scripps, Microsoft, DBG - Simon Applebaum

One busy last full week of April UpfrontNewfront action included this trio of events early on The recapsreviews followScripps Networks Venue A year ago the Foxwoods Theater near Times Square housed Syfy39s presentation with the audience remaining to see a performance of SpiderMan Turn Off The Dark a unique night to all showing up to say the least really least SpiderMan still plays here and touches of the black cobweb backdrop framed the stage of Scripps39 effort Popcorn was served preshow and some 30 personalities from Home ampamp Garden TV Food Network Cooking Channel Travel Channel DIY and Great American Country were seated in the front rows Grade 45 JacksPresentation Until now Scripps scheduled its event for breakfast or lunch crowds the last few years at Cipriani39s near Grand Central Station Going late afternoonearly eve and doing so from a Broadway theater was a changeofpace gamble What Scripps didn39t do was revamp the format that has worked well for its family of channels boil down the key info on each net39s currentfuture shows into 1015 minute chunks led by each net39s top executive and loaded with videos At times the approach can be dry and confining but refreshingly in Food Network39s case their portion came with unexpected humora songanddance video Singing In The Rainstyle about the channel39s virtues with asides from Bobby Flay Rachael Ray and other FN notables The crowd ate it up even Food president Brooke Johnson did a brief softshoe in reaction Something else Scripps highlights in entertaining fashion how advertisers get involved in each channel beyond 30second spots plus near the close demonstrates a unique multichannel strategy Target for HGTV and Food this year Wish more presentations followed this lead Grade 45 JacksNews Plenty with six channels to show off On the promising side Love It Or Lose It Scoring The Deal and Million Dollar Room HGTV Trip Flip Miami International Airport and Mile High Travel Great American Heroes and American Grown GAC Invention Hunters a rare FN program about food technology and equipment and Cooking39s The Culinary Adventures of Baron Ambrosia One quibble no press release on the new shows immediately available postevent Grade 45 JacksHost Spread among various Scripps execs all sound and solid Grade 4 JacksOverall Grade 45 Jacks Comprehensive with great pace and production values going Broadway without pouring on a heap of glitzDigital Broadcasting Group DBGVenue DBG chose the OffBroadway Helen Mills Theater in Manhattan39s Chelsea district to play its first Newfront affair The theater is downstairs an open space with bar occupies the street level A capacity crowd came to hear DEG make its case so big a checkin line formed outside West 26th Street and inside it was tough to move around Two screens at one end of the space presented clips of DBG39s current work available on various Web sites and the finger food was delicious Grade 3 JacksPresentation In the most novel approach by anyone so far DBG relayed its message through a 30minute musical revue with live musical combo to the side of the stage and videos connecting one sequence to the next Each sketch satirized some aspect of media with a punch line related to DBG39s content Example characters in The Hunger Games spared their lives because they watched Expecting a series about women on the road to parenthood Favorite bit checking out the quotreal housewivesquot of Akron Ohio The songs and satire were on target Unfortunately the tune DBG put out was flat You didn39t get didley on what new series DBG would present and when they would premiere Just a line before the closing song on Bartenders and the line was the show39s name nothing more A big rule of upfront 101show what39s on the way and when so advertisers can make up their minds whether or not to spend their money Split grades 4 Jacks for the revue and performers 0 Jacks for the absence of new show infoNews See above Grade 0 JacksOverall Grade 2 Jacks DBG had the approach down pat but all for naught when you don39t have the important programming info to seal some dealsMicrosoft AdvertisingVenue Microsoft turned the largest conference room of its Rockefeller Center area offices into an auditorium for its fifth annual quotdigital showcasequot The stage looked like the set of Meet The Press or The Sports Reporters with chairs placed in the center and small screens overhead plus large screens on either side running logos of participating advertisers as attendees walked in When this room was filled people were invited to see a simulcast in rooms nearby Grade 4 JacksPresentation Threeandahalf hours with no break is way too long for an audience to sit through unless your event keeps the interest level high Microsoft39s didn39t come close For starters sections devoted to Fox Sports and NBC News39 digitalonline work meandered and went nowhere You concluded they and the talent involved should be part of separate events from Fox and NBC Universal Both went the panel route and ended up bringing whatever momentum Microsoft was causing to a halt What should have been the twoandonly main subjectsMSN and Xbox Liveweresaved for the second half of this marathon When Xbox general manager Ross Honey had his moment in the spotlight it was afternoon and more than a few empty seats were in sight Technical glitches were evident throughout from a badlyplaced teleprompter below the stage off to one side where speakers constantly looked down to view it to a clicker not clicking for several speakers when they wanted to change slides became a running joke by the end The saving graces a provocative quotfireside chatquot on where TV and digital content39s going between former ABCYahoo programmer Lloyd Braun and Medialink CEO Michael Kassan and Olympic gold medal gymnast Dominique Dawes doing athlete profiles for Fox Sports39 online Summer Olympics coverage from London Grade 2 JacksNews MSN had a pair of new shows to highlightDV Guide entertainment world wrap and Today In The Park momoriented series without mentioning when either will debut The bigger news relayed by MA senior director Jahn Wolland was the intro of a new ad strategy where BestBuy would sponsor a display on various online shows with BestBuy ads inviting them to click the display for more info In time utilizing Skype the viewer would be invited to click the display for a video chat with a BestBuy representative while continuing to watch the program quotDoing oneonone video chat with a local rep is incredibly excitingquot Wolland said Could be an equally exciting application for video chat on the TV set During the Xbox Live presentation Honey showcased several projects in development including Kids39 Kitchen where kids create meals at home Grade 25 JacksHost Felicia Day producerstar of MSN39s longrunning Web comedy The Guild did her best to keep things light and entertaining Having to be ringmaster for a threehoursplus adventure with tech bugs throughout didn39t help Grade 3 JacksOverall Grade 2 Jacks For next year Microsoft A Limit the showcase to your most important product and what the audience came to hear about most MSN and Xbox Live AA Be heavy on what39s coming and when B Don39t go beyond 90 minutes C No more panels and if you want something to break the format up go the fireside chat approach no longer than 15 minutes D Cut the glitches off with a reliable clicker and the teleprompter on a stand or overhead where it39s easy to see E Bring back Dawes and Day to cohost Do all that and your Jacks count rises along with your profile among advertisers5 Jacks Excellent4 Jacks Very Good3 Jacks Good2 Jacks Fair1 Jack Poor0 Jacks Worse than badNext up AOL Syfy and VevoUntil the next time stay well and stay tunedSimon Applebaum is producerhost of Tomorrow Will Be Televised the weekly Internetdistributed radio program covering the TV scene Simon cal be reached at simonapple04yahoocomRead all Simonamp8217s MediaBizBloggers commentaries at Tomorrow Will Be TelevisedCheck us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates MediaBizBloggerThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaBizBloggerscom management or associated bloggers MediaBizBloggers is an open thought leadership platform and readers may share their comments and opinions in response to all commentaries

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Upfront and Newfront Update: Scripps, Microsoft, DBG - Simon Applebaum

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